:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/october-best-books-100725-8447b06f14ca4c8ba9be128116f26ba4.jpg)
Friends see how life imitates art, a beloved writer looks back and a desperate crime causes drama — plus gripping celebrity memoirs you won’t want to put down. See PEOPLE’s picks for the best books of October 2025, so far.
‘Future Boy’ by Michael J. Fox
Flatiron Books
In 1985, Michael J. Fox brought two iconic characters to life on-screen: Marty McFly in the film Back to the Future, and Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties. The actor looks back on that memorable year with wit and humor.
‘Holy Disrupter’ by Amy Duggar King
Zondervan Books
In this eye-opening memoir, Amy Duggar King, a relative of the Duggar family from TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, looks back on growing up alongside the reality show stars.
‘Minor Black Figures’ by Brandon Taylor
Riverhead Books
A disillusioned artist named Wyeth meets Keating, a former seminarian, amid the sweltering restlessness that is a New York City summer. As they grow closer, Wyeth begins researching the life of a forgotten Black artist, in the process discovering more about himself and what he and Keating have to offer each other. A meditative, illuminating portrait of friendship and competition, belief systems and the connections between us all.
‘Joyride’ by Susan Orlean
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Surfing, taxidermy, orchids and Rin Tin Tin are just a few of the many topics that have captivated acclaimed nonfiction writer Orlean — and her readers — over the years. This absorbing memoir illustrates her core belief that “familiar things examined closely” can be magnificent. — Kim Hubbard
‘A Guardian and a Thief’ by Megha Majumdar
Knopf
In a near-future Kolkata ravaged by famine, drought and heat, Ma has finally scored the visas to bring her father and daughter to join her husband in the U.S. Then, while robbing her to feed his own family, a teenage boy steals them. Electrifying and unputdownable. — Marion Winik
‘Bog Queen’ by Anna North
Bloomsbury Publishing
A strangely well-preserved Iron Age body turns up in an English bog, and the American forensic anthropologist on the case is thrust into an absorbing, complex mystery.
‘The Unveiling’ by Quan Barry
Grove Press
On a luxury Antarctic cruise, a Black film-location scout gets stranded on a remote island with a group of wealthy White tourists. Gripping and terrifying.
‘What a Way to Go’ by Bella Mackie
The Borough Press
A wealthy Englishman dies mysteriously before news breaks that he’s been running a scam. As his spoiled family fight over money and suspect one another of murder, he looks on from a waiting room in the afterlife, where he must figure out how he died before moving on. Wickedly funny. — Robin Micheli